Inquiry calls for payments to F-111 maintenance personnel

A parliamentary inquiry has recommended that an ex-gratia payment be made to Air Force personnel who were poisoned by toxic chemicals while working on F-111 fuel tanks

Transcript

TONY JONES, PRESENTER: Air Force personnel poisoned by toxic chemicals expressed relief that a Federal Parliamentary Committee recognised their plight. The personnel working in the confines of the nation's F-111 fuel tanks over several decades suffered a range of debilitating medical problems.

Today the committee recommended ex-gratia payments should be made to everyone that worked on the program.

David Mark reports.

DAVID MARK, REPORTER: They were the pride of Australia's skies for decades, but the nation's fleet of F-111s had a fundamental design flaw, their fuel tanks leaked, so for 27 years thousands of Air Force personnel used toxic chemicals to remove and reapply a sealant to stop the leaks, they called themselves the 'The Goop Troop'.

DAVID GRADY, EX-RAAF: Amberley on a hot day in summer is uncomfortable. When you are inside an F-111 fuel tank, which is extremely cramped at the best of times working inside there with chemicals, and fuel that had not been fully depuddled, was rather horrendous.

DAVID MARK: David Grady worked on the so-called de-seal/re-seal program in the late 1970s. Nowadays they use protective equipment. From 1973 until 2000, it was a very different story.

DAVID GRADY: I had to take off my shoes and socks, and get into the aeroplane, and then basically all I had on was shorts on in the summer, and then a T-shirt on in the winter.

DAVID MARK: The toxic chemicals took a devastating toll on David Grady's health.

DAVID GRADY: It went into headaches, with lung problems, I had bowel problems, and then suffered from depression.

DAVID MARK: He's not the only one.

STUART ROBERT, LIBERAL COMMITTEE MEMBER: Over time it became evident that men were getting sick and were suffering from a whole range of ubiquitous and unknown illnesses.

DAVID MARK: A 2004 report into the health effects of the de-seal/re-seal illnesses found many suffered medical continues: skin conditions, neurological symptoms, erectile dysfunction and mental health disorders. Some died from cancer, others have taken their own lives.

DAVID GRADY: At times it's suicidal, really, that was because of the delays in Department of Veteran Affairs, in their false promises, and leading up to the ex-gratia page.

DAVID MARK: In 2005 the then minister for veterans affairs De Anne Kelly announced some of the workers could receive an ex gratia payment of up to $40,000. But David Grady was one of 2,000 de-seal/re-seal workers not eligible for the money, and the strain has been tough for his whole family.

AMANDA GRADY: It's been difficult. But deep down I have known that David could pull through it, and that he did have the strength to do it.

DAVID MARK: Today a report was tabled in Federal Parliament recommending a change.

ARCH BEVIS, LABOR COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: The committee's recommendations made clear, it doesn't matter what unit you were in, when you did the work. As far as we are concerned if you did the work you qualify for the support of that scheme.

DAVID MARK: That means access to the payment, counselling and family support for those that missed out.

ARCH BEVIS: For the 30-odd years that this was being done, they are owed an apology, I think, for what they were put through.

Relief that for once and for all we might be able to put this whole thing behind us.

DAVID MARK: The victims are hoping that Parliament will accept the recommendations as soon as possible.